


Backstage Mishaps and New-found Love

by Fanfan_la



Series: Drabble Me This [12]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 12:58:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6375709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanfan_la/pseuds/Fanfan_la
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I am so sorry!" A tall, pale male ran towards a slightly shorter brunette male holding a clipboard, bowing continuously, his black hair swinging dangerously close to the other. "I am so sorry for being late, Junmyeon-ssi!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Backstage Mishaps and New-found Love

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: Clumsy Taohun
> 
> Warnings: None
> 
> Cross-posted from [AFF](http://www.asianfanfics.com/profile/view/251853).

"I am so sorry!" A tall, pale male ran towards a slightly shorter brunette male holding a clipboard, bowing continuously, his black hair swinging dangerously close to the other. "I am so sorry for being late, Junmyeon-ssi!"  
  
The shorter male named Junmyeon gave a long-suffering sigh, sliding a hand down his face. "And what time do you call this, Sehun-ah?"  
  
"Um..." The male smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm late but at least I'm here now?"  
  
Junmyeon sighed again. "You're lucky I like you so much, and that you're good at co-ordinating the backstage lights, because if it were anyone else-"  
  
"-I would be fired for being late for the fifth time since I started two weeks ago. I know, Junmyeon-ssi, and I'm eternally grateful," Sehun said, bowing lowly again. "I promise to work extra hard today."  
  
Junmyeon smiled at the younger and patted his back. "That's all I ask."  
  
Sehun tilted his head as he straightened his back. "Who is the main act today?"  
  
"Popular debuted Chinese group from China, EXO," Junmyeon replied whilst checking the various papers clipped to his board. "Well, saying that, there are two Korean members, but the whole group debuted in China first before deciding to debut here as well, after gaining many Korean fans. They are quite good," he commented.  
  
Sehun nodded in acknowledgement; he knew vaguely of the group he was talking about. Their names were Lay, Kris, Tao, Xiumin and Luhan, from what he remembered. He wasn't exactly very familiar with them, but his best friend Jongin sure was. He had the hots for the eldest one in the group, apparently.   
  
"So, how do you want the stage lights to be?" He leaned back into what seemed to be a sturdy prop - a mannequin of some sort - only for the hand to break off. Sehun's eyes widened dramatically as he checked to see if Junmyeon had noticed (he hadn't; the man had turned around to check on his other employees) before grabbing the piece and hiding it behind his back with his right arm, desperately trying to make it seem like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He stepped in front of the mannequin so that his body covered the obvious breakage and posed with his left arm raised behind his head, ruffling his hair and trying to look as normal as possible.  
  
Junmyeon hadn't noticed the panicky disposition of his employee behind him and simply turned back to see the male and raised eyebrow at Sehun's posing, before unclipping a piece of paper and holding it out to the other. "The main directions are here. I trust your judgement on the rest of it, so don't mess up."  
  
Sehun nodded quickly, dropping his free arm to grab the paper with his left hand. "Great. I'll do that."  
  
Junmyeon frowned. "Are you okay, Sehun-ah?" He stepped closer, making the other step back as well, bumping into the broken prop.   
  
"I'm fine, why?" Sehun replied, trying not to sound anxious. He really didn't want his pay to be deducted if Junmyeon found out about the broken prop. He needed to eat something other than ramyeon when he got back to college from the summer holidays.  
  
"You look a bit... nervous?" Junmyeon said.  
  
"I just don't want to mess up," Sehun reasoned. "The directions look really complicated," he continued, waving the paper around for emphasise.  
  
Junmyeon hummed, believing his excuse. "Of course. But I think you'll do just fine, Sehun-ah. You're good at what you do, so just relax, okay?" He patted the male on the shoulder. "I should go and direct your colleagues now. Work hard, Sehun-ah."  
  
"Of course, Junmyeon-ssi!" Sehun bowed lowly as the man retreated, only to straighten up swiftly when he realised he had exposed the mannequin's broken hand.  
  
As soon as Junmyeon disappeared from sight, Sehun turned around and tried to stick the hand back in place in vain. He grunted in frustration every time it fell off, knowing very well it wouldn't just stay in place without super glue or something similar.  
  
"I thing you'll need something a little stronger than pure will for that to stick back," a voice behind Sehun murmured.  
  
Sehun squeaked in surprise, twirling around to be faced with a slightly tanned male with slanted, cat-like eyes and strikingly blue hair. "Uh..." Sehun uttered unintelligently. The man in front of him had a gorgeous foreign look about him, making it clear he was not Korean. Sehun wasn't usually seriously attracted to foreigners, but the male was attractive, his tanned skin almost glowing under the sparse lighting. He continued to stare until he noticed the male's mouth curl up into a smile. "I..."  
  
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," the male spoke again.  
  
Sehun relaxed slightly, holding onto the broken hand that refused to stay put. "Thanks, um..."  
  
"Zitao," the man replied, holding out his hand. "Huang Zitao."  
  
Sehun took it without thinking, shaking Zitao's warm hands politely. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Oh Sehun."  
  
Zitao chuckled. "I heard," he said, referring to the conversation from earlier.  
  
"You saw that?" Sehun asked awkwardly. He shifted on the balls of his feet.  
  
"Yeah, it was quite amusing to watch," Zitao said, still smiling.  
  
"So Zitao... do you have any ideas that might help hide this?" Sehun asked, shrugging his shoulders in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner. "Because I'd really rather not lose my job, you see." He was exaggerating, as he most likely wouldn't lose his job considering it was only a summer one with the season ending anyway, and he was a talented stage lights co-ordinator for his age, but he was a little dramatic under stressful situations.   
  
"Well, not really. But, I might be able to do something else for you," Zitao said after a moment. "Give me the hand." Sehun gave the broken hand over to Zitao, who then motioned for Sehun to back away a bit. The raven-haired male blinked in confusion, wondering what the other male was planning to do.  
  
Suddenly, Zitao tipped backwards and into the mannequin, dropping the broken hand and making a loud noise, the hand having smashed into much smaller pieces and scattering the floor. Sehun panicked and reached forward to catch the falling man, hands grabbing onto the male's forearms to haul the other to a standing position.  
  
"Are you okay?" Sehun asked, minutely aware of the others swarming over to check what all the fuss was about. "You're not hurt, are you?" He checked over the foreigner's body and face, only to see that Zitao looked fine. Perfectly fine, in fact. Zitao shushed the male, seeing the question on Sehun's lips, as a really tall blonde and Junmyeon came over.  
  
"What happened?" Junmyeon cried out, seeing the broken mannequin's hand on the floor.  
  
Zitao stepped forward before Sehun could get a word in about how he had broken the mannequin. "I am so sorry, Junmyeon-ssi. I tripped over and accidentally crashed into the mannequin behind me while I was trying to catch my balance. Luckily, Sehun-ah here caught me before I could twist my ankle or anything," Zitao said, pointing at Sehun.  
  
Sehun flushed as the crowd of stylists and stage personals looked at him in surprise and a bit of... was that jealousy? "It was nothing," he said, going along with Zitao's lie for now.  
  
Junmyeon sighed. "Well, I'm glad you're not hurt, Tao-ssi. Unfortunately, that prop isn't ours; actually we borrowed it, and now that it's broken..."  
  
_'Hold up. Tao-ssi? Don't tell me...'_ Sehun blinked as the conversation continued to happen before him, the gathered crowd drifting back to their current jobs. _'Huang Zitao is an EXO member?'_  
  
The blonde next to Junmyeon suddenly spoke up. "Don't worry about it, Junmyeon-ssi. Our company will pay for it. If they don't, it will come out of Tao's paycheque anyway." The blonde smiled politely at the shorter male, who looked grateful.  
  
"Thank you, Kris-ssi," Junmyeon said. "Luckily, the prop isn't needed today, but we'll move it somewhere else so it doesn't get anymore damage." He nodded at his two heavy-prop movers, gesturing for them to pick the mannequin and move it, which they quickly obeyed.  
  
As Junmyeon made his way to check back on his previous agenda, he patted Sehun's back as he past. "Well, you certainly made up for earlier. Anyway, the show is nearly starting, so get yourself ready, okay, Sehun-ah?"  
  
Sehun nodded absentmindedly, a bit preoccupied with the realisation that he had just met two members of the famous boy group, EXO. Again, not a big fan, but he knew of them; after all, they were even reaching popular heights in America. He'd be living in a cave if he hadn't heard of them.   
  
Also, didn't he basically just call one of them hot in his head and proceed to talk to him like a close friend?   
  
Oh man, he had so fucked up.  
  
The towering blonde, Kris, still hadn't moved until Junmyeon had left before he lifted his hand and whacked Zitao's - or was it Tao? - head lightly.   
  
Zitao - Tao - whined, pouting his lips. "Gege, that hurt!"  
  
Kris snorted. "We both know that it didn't because your head is too big and too hard for it to hurt. Stop being so clumsy and watch yourself, silly. This is the fifth thing you've broken since we got here, and that was only three days ago. Seriously, your paycheque is going to take a hit."  
  
Zitao waved it off with his hand. "It's okay, ge. I'll live." He grabbed Sehun by the arm, much to the younger male's surprise and chagrin. "Besides, I have Sehun to watch me in case I break anything else. Right, Sehun-ah?"  
  
"S-sure," Sehun stuttered, still not completely over his idol shock. "Of course."  
  
Zitao grinned at Kris, who just let out a long sigh. "See? I'll be okay until the start of the show, which is in twenty minutes, right?"  
  
Kris nodded. "The rest of us will be over there if you need us, okay?" He said, pointing over at the open make-up area, where Sehun could clearly see his colleague friends, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, working on the remaining EXO members.   
  
Sehun snorted discreetly. _'Ha, Jongin would be so jealous.'_  
  
Zitao nodded as Kris turned to leave, just as Sehun tapped the blue-haired male's arm. "So, EXO's Tao?" Sehun questioned, a bit more wary. He would have to mind his casual tongue now.  
  
"Sorry. I thought you knew because you stared for so long," Zitao said sheepishly.  
  
"I didn't!" Sehun denied loudly before lowering his voice, his ears going red. "I mean, I knew _of_ you, but I didn't really know, you know?"  
  
Zitao laughed. "It's okay, Sehun. I guess it means you'll have to get to know me a bit more then."  
  
Sehun smiled despite himself, even as he spoke as politely as he could. "I... Thank you for taking the blame, Tao-ssi. You really shouldn't have, considering it's coming out of _your_ paycheque now." He didn't meet the male's eyes, embarrassed about how informal he was earlier, and that Zitao noticed his staring.  
  
"It's still Zitao, Sehun-ah. Unless you want me to call you Sehun-ssi as well?" Zitao raised an eyebrow at Sehun's words, looking at the other.  
  
Sehun shook his head. He wasn't really great with formalities, but he did try in the presence of elders, employers and young children. He just didn't like it when the other person was close to his age; it felt very strange. "No, Sehun is fine... Zitao." He glanced up at the other, feeling his ears heat up with the way Zitao looked at him. "But really, thanks for taking the blame, even though it was my fault."  
  
"Well, that was my plan, anyway." At Sehun's incredulous expression, Zitao let out a chuckle. "I may be a little clumsy, but I'm not that bad. I did that one on purpose." Zitao hummed, as if thinking about something, before grabbing Sehun's hand and pulling a pen out from god-knows-where; honestly, Sehun was more preoccupied by staring at Zitao's face and how handsome he looked laughing. "And don't worry about my paycheque, Sehun-ah. You can treat me to coffee instead." He winked at the fair-skinned male as he let go of Sehun's hand and bounced off, leaving the other wide-eyed and staring after the blue-haired male.  
  
Sehun blinked several times before looking down at his arm, a phone number clearly scrawled on the palm of his hand. He then looked at his watch, indicating that he still had fifteen minutes to get ready.  
  
Grabbing his phone, he entered the number and texted the other.  
  
To: Potential Hot Boyfriend (?)  
From: The Great Hunnie  
Could I treat you to bubble tea instead? I know a great place!  
  
To: The Great Hunnie  
From: Potential Hot Boyfriend (?)  
Sure. As long as it's a date ;)  
  
Sehun let out a little laugh as he moved to his stationed area. _'I guess I'll be the one to update Jongin on EXO now.'_


End file.
